There was a defensive change Saturday afternoon at TD Garden and it wasn’t a decision that most Bruins’ fans may have liked, but it turned out okay for the Black and Gold in their 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.

Head coach Claude Julien inserted Matt Bartkowski, while Zach Trotman watched from the Level 9 press box. In his first appearance in seven games, Bartkowski was paired with Torey Krug and looked rather confident with each shift. The 26 year-old defenseman logged over 17 minutes and riffled off four shots on net while sporting a plus-1 rating in a crucial game for the B’s, who were coming off an embarrassing two-game Canadian road trip in Toronto and Montreal.

It has been a tough go of it for the B’s blue line with captain Zdeno Chara and Kevan Miller still out, but different players are stepping up whether it was Trotman, David Warsofsky or Joe Morrow. Saturday, it was Bartkowski’s turn to regain his coach’s trust.

“I’m going to have to watch the game tape to give you the full assessment, but you know I think he was physical today, he moved the puck and he did okay,” said Julien in praise of Bartkowski after Saturday’s victory. “So, I’ll look at the tape and make my assessment the best I can.”

It’s never easy for a player to be a healthy scratch for one game, let alone seven in a row, but Bartkowski didn’t let it affect him and Julien was happy with his player showing good character.

“Those are the questions I can’t answer for a player, so all I said before was that he had a good attitude, he worked hard and that stuff,” Julien said about Bartkowski’s attitude during his seven-game absence as a healthy scratch. “So, the rest of it he handled himself-what I saw is that-how he handled it, probably he could answer it for you.”

Goaltender Tuukka Rask played between the pipes Saturday and was satisfied with Bartkowski’s performance in his first game back.

On Boston.com: In win over Hurricanes, Bruins keep calm and Rask on

“He played good, he was solid,” Rask said after his 33-save performance. “One turnover maybe, but other than that solid. When he plays to his strengths he’s good. He’s good when he gets more comfortable and gets the nerves out of the way. Today was a good example of that. He played a good game.”

Bartkowski was just happy to be back on the ice with his teammates on Saturday and admitted that he wasn’t vocal to try and get back into the lineup. He was just disappointed that he wasn’t playing to his capability.

“I think I did alright,” Bartkowski said. “For how much time I sat out, I was moving and I didn’t really give them too much, a few chances, but other than that it went pretty well.”

“Matt has been working really hard,” defenseman Dennis Seidenberg added about Bartkowski’s work ethic. “I’m sure he didn’t like sitting out. Nobody likes sitting out, so the only thing he can do is work hard and stay positive and that’s what he’s been doing and tonight he got his chance and I think he played a solid game.”

It may be a feel good story for Bartkowski for the time being, but it will take a string of these games to keep him in the lineup when every defenseman is healthy. Miller is close to returning, which means Bartkowski could find his way back out of the lineup – especially if Morrow continues to impress.

Bartkowski’s statistics don’t exactly jump out at you. In six games, he has zero points and has a minus-3 rating, but his performance Saturday was a step in the right direction. As the B’s blue line gets healthier, it’s tough to figure Bartkowski will be in the lineup, but their defensive depth happens to be a good asset.

Relive what the Bruins had to say after their 2-1 win over the Hurricanes in Saturday’s postgame video.